The present invention relates to sorting apparatus for sorting parts of an article surveillance system.
Surveillance systems are presently in use in retail stores and the like wherein a tag is secured to each article of merchandise which tag contains an element detectable by a portal unit for activating an alarm if the tag is not removed by authorized personnel upon purchase of the item involved. One type of tag unit incorporates the detectable element in a housing that is secured to the article by means of a tack having a head and a shank, the shank being passed through the article and fastened in a clutch lock in the housing. The usual procedure in a retail outlet is to provide the cashier with a tool for separating the tack from the tag whereupon the parts are dumped into a container for subsequent sorting and re-use. It is the sorting that has heretofore posed a problem, which problem it is the intent of the present invention to solve. The reason for sorting is related, of course, to economy of time and efficiency in reapplying the tags to a large inventory of incoming merchandise.